Louis the German

Louis the German
King of East Francia
Seal with Louis' inscription and effigy.
Reign	King of Bavaria: 817–843; King of East Francia: 843–876
Predecessor	Louis the Pious
Successor	Carloman of Bavaria (Bavaria) Louis the Younger (Saxony) Charles the Fat (Francia)
Born	c. 802
Died	28 August 876 (aged 74) Frankfurt
Spouse	Emma of Altdorf
Issue	Carloman of Bavaria Louis the Younger Charles the Fat
House	Carolingian dynasty
Father	Louis the Pious
Mother	Ermengarde of Hesbaye

Louis (also Ludwig or Lewis) "the German" (c. 802-876), also known as Louis II, was the first king of East Francia. Grandson of emperor Charlemagne and the third son of emperor of Francia, Louis the Pious and his first wife, Ermengarde of Hesbaye, he received the appellation Germanicus shortly after his death in recognition of the fact that the bulk of his kingdom was in the former Germania.

His early years were partly spent at the court of his grandfather, Charlemagne, whose special affection he is said to have won. When the emperor Louis the Pious divided his dominions between his sons in 817, Louis was made the ruler of Duchy of Bavaria, following the practice of emperor Charlemagne of bestowing a local kingdom to a close family member who then would serve as his lieutenant and local governor. Louis ruled from Regensburg, the old capital of the Bavarii. In 825 he became involved in wars with the Wends and Sorbs on his eastern frontier. In 827 he married Hemma, sister of his stepmother Judith of Bavaria, both daughters of Welf, whose possessions ranged from Alsace to Bavaria. Louis soon began to interfere in the quarrels arising from Judith's efforts to secure a kingdom for her son Charles the Bald and the consequent struggles of his brothers with their father.

His involvement in the first civil war against his father's reign was limited, but in the second his elder brothers, Lothair I, then King of Italy, and Pepin I, Duke of Aquitaine, persuaded him to invade Alamannia which their father had given to their young half-brother Charles the Bald; by promising to give him the land in the new partition they would make after a victory. In 832 he led an army of Slavs into Alamannia and completely subjugated it. Louis the Pious disinherited him, but to no effect; the emperor was soon captured by his own rebellious sons and deposed. Upon his swift reinstatement, however, the emperor Louis made peace with his son Louis and legally restored Bavaria (never actually lost) to him in 836.